WCC Chief Executive reads brand new 'Warwick Bear' Road Safety children's book

Move over Tom Hardy!

Warwickshire County Council (WCC) Chief Executive reads brand new ‘Warwick Bear’ children’s book by local author – the first in a series of virtual bedtime stories from WCC

Following in the footsteps of Tom Hardy, Dolly Parton and Orlando Bloom, who have all famously told bedtime stories on TV in recent years, WCC's Chief Executive, Monica Fogarty, will be narrating a children’s story online next week - with a special road safety theme.

Monica has volunteered her time to read ‘Warwick Bear: Tooting Trucks and Busy Bikes’, the latest book to be created for Warwickshire County Council’s Road Safety Club, for a special online bedtime story.

The illustrated story, which has been developed with Diane Maybey, a children’s author and illustrator based in Warwick, can be watched on WCC's social media channels this Tuesday (5 May) at 6pm.

It will be the first of a number of virtual bedtime stories to be read by County Council employees in the coming weeks, including staff from Warwickshire’s Libraries Service and Fire and Rescue Service.

With two children of her own, Monica is no stranger to reading bedtime stories and was happy to take a short amount of time out from managing the County Council’s Covid-19 response to share an important road safety message with children.

Monica said:

“I was delighted when the Road Safety Education Team invited me to read the latest ‘Warwick Bear’ book, which has been written to help young children learn important messages about road safety by following his journey through our streets and towns.

“It’s wonderful that we have been able to work with Warwick-based author and illustrator, Diane Maybey, to tell the story.

“Families are looking for all sorts of different ways to entertain and educate their children at home at the moment and our staff are doing an amazing job, developing online activities so that families can continue to get involved with libraries and our other areas of work, like road safety, from home.

“Staff from our Libraries Service, Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service and other Council teams have stepped up to follow in the footsteps of celebrities like Tom Hardy on CBeebies and will be volunteering their time to read some special bedtime story sessions for us in Warwickshire over the coming weeks.”

You can tune into Monica Fogarty reading ‘Warwick Bear: Tooting Trucks and Busy Bikes’ at 6pm on Tuesday 5 May on the following social media channels:

Warwickshire Road Safety Twitter @RoadSafetyWarks

Warwickshire Libraries Twitter @warkslibraries and Facebook facebook.com/WarwickshireLibraries

Warwickshire County Council Twitter @warwickshire_cc and Facebook facebook.com/WarwickshireCountyCouncil